Been asked to look after a 10 year old after school

poet123

I dont subscribe to the notion that after school activities should be always be educational, kids need to relax have some fun. My kids never touched a school book or did any academic stuff in the holidays, they were on their bikes, having water fights,playing computer games, watching TV, reading books, or sightseeing on holiday.

The programme mentioned sounds like a crammer you may use if your child needed to boost grades for GCSE or A level, not a holiday child care scheme for a ten year old.

achtunglady

poet123 wrote: »

I dont subscribe to the notion that after school activities should be always be educational, kids need to relax have some fun. My kids never touched a school book or did any academic stuff in the holidays, they were on their bikes, having water fights,playing computer games, watching TV, reading books, or sightseeing on holiday.

The programme mentioned sounds like a crammer you may use if your child needed to boost grades for GCSE or A level, not a holiday child care scheme for a ten year old.

Another poster said i have to show what i am doing with the child, so do i say, well she does nothing educational with me, just spends time on the wii or ds as its deemed too harsh to give her extra homework/educational games to help her development, at the request of her parents and class teacher???

achtunglady

Naggity wrote: »

. It is also considered good practise to do crafts that will progress the child within the national curriculum, to keep records of what you have done and to keep records to show how the child has progressed. Full day care requires a lot more planning. It is not enough to just stick the child in front of the television or leave them to their own devices.

So is it a happy medium of doing extra work as requested by the parent (such as helping with homework) and doing crafts that will progress the child within the national curriculum, to show how the child has progressed as Naggity has said???

Savvy_Sue

I think you shouldn't be getting into knots about the question of how you present what you do at this stage. Does this child have extra needs which mean she needs a lot of extra help? If not, a run down of the kinds of activities which will be available is, IMO, enough. You then present them in whatever way Ofsted requires (if you're registering).

If the parents insist she has to do school work every day and in school holidays, how easy is that going to be? Is your own daughter going to join in, or are you going to be concentrating on the minded child at the expense of your daughter, or will the minded child be left 'working' on her own while you give your attention to your daughter?

My view was that I chose a childminder on the basis of what THEY were offering, not what I would have done if I'd been at home with my boys. If they went after school, their homework was MY problem, once we got home, and if that meant it didn't get done that was tough, at that age. While they were with the childminder, they joined in (or not) her activities, but I didn't expect her to do my job. Same at the afterschool club: my older two were often sat in a corner reading a book when I went to pick them up, and that was fine by me, they had a choice of joining in what was offered or not, I wasn't about to start insisting that the club offered the kind of activities mine enjoyed (reading) to everyone.

All sorts of activities can be 'educational', without the child realising. Cooking involves number work and reading recipes, for example.

I think you really need to think whether you would enjoy doing this, and if the parents are being too prescriptive, I'd walk away.

BTW, DH once spent some time tutoring a child in the school holidays who needed help to get through entrance exams for public schools. There was a financial incentive for both DH and the child if they were successful. They weren't: that child just wasn't cut out for the kind of school the parents wanted him to get in to. I felt very sorry for him, having been cooped up every morning through the holidays.

Oldernotwiser

achtunglady wrote: »

Another poster said i have to show what i am doing with the child, so do i say, well she does nothing educational with me, just spends time on the wii or ds as its deemed too harsh to give her extra homework/educational games to help her development, at the request of her parents and class teacher???

You don't seem to be familiar with the concept of a child actually playing - there is a middle ground between educational cramming and spending all day on the DS.

poet123

It sounds to me as if the mother wants cut price tutoring to help her child not a childminding service. Maybe the school have suggested that she gets her child some help during the school holidays.

Or are we getting the wrong end of the stick here, and she has simply asked you to look after her daughter with yours and because you are being paid you feel that you have to produce a list of activities rather than just go with the flow day to day? If it is a formalised arrangement and you have to jump through the regulatory hoops I would not be going down that route, if it is a simple arrangement between friends then you do not need to be so rigid in your planning.

DCFC79

achtunglady wrote: »

I am not saying i won't play with her, in fact i have some games that will benefit her in all areas of development, memory games, physical games etc and when the weather is good we can play outside to develop her gross motor skills and when its not so good then we can do drawing, painting, crafting, beadwork, sewing, knitting etc for fine motor skills but her schoolwork must come first, don't you agree?

summer holidays is for the kids to unwind/relax, is the homework vital for the child to do eg is she behnd others in her class. if i was asked to do school work during the holidays when i was little i wouldnt be best pleased when everyone else would be outside

id also simplify the charging proces, just charge the parent per hour and say what would be included,